HOW MANY $$$ WILL IT COST PLEASANTON RESIDENTS TOHAVE A COSTCO IN PLEASANTON?Attend an Upcoming Meeting to Learn the Details!

By rezoning a former commercial/light industrial space to retail, the City is rapidly advancing toward locating a Costco warehouse on Johnson Drive at the former location of the Clorox Research Center. To learn more about this project, don't miss an important meeting of the Pleasanton City council and the Pleasanton Planning Commission. These two panels will discuss the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (DSEIR) for the project. This is your opportunity to ask questions and voice your opinion, including:

The infrastructure costs for the project are at least $15 million. If Costco or the developer won't pay this full amount, are you, as a taxpayer, willing to pay the difference?

If public taxpayer money is dedicated to this project, how long will it take for the City to break even on its investment?

The additional 4.8 million vehicles in traffic that the project is anticipated to generate (including 1,600 gasoline tankers delivering fuel and 9,000 Costco delivery trucks) annually--how will it be managed?

What other types of development are being considered for this site?

What are the water and air pollution impacts of this project?

How will the project impact nearby neighborhoods and existing businesses?

A public meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 29 at 6:30, in the City Council Chambers, 200 Old Bernal, Pleasanton to discuss financing of expanded infrastructure for the Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone (JDEDZ) and more.

Come listen and participate in the first round of discussions of the $21.5 million in financing required for road expansions to handle the traffic impacts for Costco, plus future businesses near Stoneridge Drive and I-680. Since the existing roads cannot handle the thousands of shoppers and freight trucks' traffic and delivery, thoroughfares and freeway entrances will have to be expanded.

What do you think? Should taxpayer dollars subsidize part of this large development project? What portion of the $21.5 million are you willing to pay for infrastructure costs for a "members only" Costco store, where non-members are not allowed to shop?

Is it a reasonable investment for taxpayers to pay for improvements over many years for a big box store, when online vendors like Amazon are dominating the market?

Come to the City Council meeting and voice your thoughts. If you are concerned by the additional traffic or that your small business will suffer, you should speak out as well.

For more information see the link to the City Council Agenda report on this topic http://weblink.cityofpleasantonca.gov/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=270862&dbid=0

If you cannot attend, please email your comments to CityCouncil@Cityofpleasantonca.gov

Our November ballot has an initiative for Pleasanton voters called Measure MM. The actual text is below in "city speak" which can be confusing.

"Shall the ordinance proposing to amend the City of Pleasanton's General Plan to prohibit retail uses of 50,000 square feet or greater, larger scale retail and club retail, in the Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone be adopted?"

This has been labeled the "Costco Initiative" and, like many of you, we like to shop at Costco. However, after sorting through the ballot arguments, financial reports and city documents, we learned the expenses of road expansions and new infrastructure will cost about $16 million in infrastructure improvements. Normally a new business in Pleasanton pays 100% of its own infrastructure expenses to the city. Under this deal, Costco is not paying their full share.

According to MM's ballot arguments, "the project is estimated to cost $16 million for infrastructure improvements and other expenses, with potentially up to $11 million being subsidized by taxpayers." Why are we (and other companies that paid 100% of their expenses) paying to bring Costco to Pleasanton when there are already two Costco stores 4-10 miles from Pleasanton shoppers?

We think if Costco wants to locate to Pleasanton, they should pay 100% of their infrastructure expenses. With reported earnings of $76 billion in annual revenues, Costco can afford to pay its fair share. More and more consumers are shopping online using Amazon.com and other online retailers. As traditional brick and mortar shops close in the Tri-Valley (Sports Authority and Borders), we question if Costco will survive the 25+ years estimated to repay the city and taxpayers for prefunding these infrastructure expenses with future tax revenue.

For these reasons, we are endorsing YES on MM, which would limit the building sizes, attract medium sized companies (50,000 sq. ft. or less), result in diversified risk, and support the policies that ALL businesses on Johnson Drive must pay 100% of their own infrastructure improvements costs.

Email

October 11, 2016

About Pleasanton Voters:PleasantonVoters.com is a non-partisan group of Pleasanton residents with the goal of educating Pleasanton voters about new and massive development projects that may negatively affect our City. We have defined goals of preserving ridgelines and open space, protecting our voter approved Urban Growth Boundary, and retaining the best qualities of our City for future generations.

Pleasanton Voters has well over 7,000 residents on our growing email list. Hundreds of you have shown up at City meetings, written letters, shared information with your neighbors, and helped support this grass roots organization.

CAN WE ADD YOUR NAME to our website as a "Supporter of Pleasanton Voters"? If so, simply reply to CONTACT/JOIN US above with your approval. Additionally, please consider sharing the costs of Pleasanton Voters. Collectively we have demonstrated our success in educating and engaging residents - we have helped stop the largest residential development in Pleasanton's history. But we need your help. Click DONATE to make a donation to Pleasanton Voters.